


A Week Well Spent

by Mssilverwoods



Category: The Durrells (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2020-12-31 14:08:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21146996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mssilverwoods/pseuds/Mssilverwoods
Summary: It's said a week well spent brings content.





	1. Chapter 1

She fell for him on a Sunday. 

“Here,” he said, helping her from the car, as she attempted to leave it with a grace she didn’t feel after a such a long journey. He then proceeded to settle them into their home and take control of the army of helpers. 

Capable, reliable and handsome. She tried to remember he was married. 

She flirted with him on a Monday.

“It’s the most beautiful view,” she sighed, not looking at the sea at all, but daring to keep her eyes on his profile. He sits as if grown from the soil on which his feet are grounded. 

“I’ve never brought anyone here before,” he tells her and she catches her breath. The effort to not say they love each other is mutual. 

She cried in his arms on a Tuesday.

He stopped the car and wordlessly held her as her tears fell. He thought how fragile she felt, her dainty hands pressed to his chest. He had mistakenly thought her upset to be over Hugh but when she finally removed herself from the safety of his arms she confessed it was because of him and he fell in love a little more, he can't remember when he felt he was loved and wanted in that way. 

“Hugh said that I wouldn't marry him because of you. I’ve realise it’s true and there’s nothing I can do.” 

He sits in quiet wonder, “I’m glad you didn’t marry him even if that makes me feel bad for saying it.”

Later he says there must be a way.

She kissed him on a Wednesday. 

He had been so close, she could feel the heat of his face against hers, the faint smell of the oil he used to hold down his hair and oh so briefly the touch of his lips on hers. Her body cried out for him to be closer. She’s hated fireworks ever since.

He took her home and kissed her hands, but looked at them curiously, as if he'd never kissed them before when he had so many times. She saw the moment he decided to cross a line and kiss her mouth like she’d never been kissed by anyone else.

She lost him on a Thursday.

“My wife, she has returned.” His mouth says one thing but his eyes tell her another story entirely. 

She later remembers that it was a Thursday when he stormed across the market square blaming her for Basil and Dimitra. 

She found him on a Friday.

Or he found her. She saw the worry in his face, felt his sigh as she cautiously smiled at him, awarding him a forgiveness that he’s not sure he is worthy of.

She married him on a Saturday.

“Mrs Halikiopoulos, are you regretting your decision?” He teases her, his lips tracing a path down her body. It’s been 5 years since he last did this and he has no intention of leaving the room for hours.

“Can we stay here for a week and I’ll let you know?” He finds himself very agreeable to this plan.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Smitten on a Sunday

He was smitten on a Sunday.

Spiro heard about the new family as soon as their feet hit the Corfu soil. He was sitting on the running boards of the taxi, wondering where his wife was. Theo had come past and mentioned that he’d seen them arrive, pale and pasty. But the mother looked young and just the sort of person to bring sunshine to his sad friend who loved the English.

It wasn’t hard to find them, dressed in fifty shades of brown and looking very English by the roadside. Yet beneath her hat, Mrs Durrell’s eyes sparkled, demanded and challenged him. He was smitten on the spot. He had no intention of doing anymore than dropping them at the hotel but found he wanted to spend more time with them all and the villa meant he could.

When he went home, he dreamt of her and told his wife it was an ordinary day. He spent the rest of the week, and all the days thereafter remembering he was married and trying reign in his imagination. 

He really did fall in love on a Monday.

He always thought he knew love. In the way that one dutifully agrees to marriage. When Dimitra was thought of as a good match, he was still in America and his father said he needed to settle down and earn a living. When she was pregnant he had little choice but to wed, despite his doubts, both hoping they’d find love with each other. They found that children aren't always enough. That there has to be something to fill the gaps when little ones are absent. Neither expected the filling to be found in the company of other people, least of all him, who had tried to close his ears to idle gossip for fear of losing his children.

It was the taxi that did it. It’s the way she unconsciously pats it. Tells her children to take care of it and indulges his ramblings over it. He can’t fathom this feeling. The joy she invokes in him, other than to feel happiness in silence as much as conversation.

He acknowledges his stupidity at marriage to Theo over too much ouzo, tells his friend never to be tied down. Then vows to take Mrs Durrells to the circus and dares to call her Louisa.

He almost lost her on a Tuesday.

Spiro didn’t meant to fight, but he had a feeling that Hugh was going to propose. He felt terrified and absolutely unable to protest, given his own situation. He felt worse when Theo mentioned his suspicions as to why Louisa turned down the olive grove farmer. Him.

When he held her in the taxi as she cried, he didn’t want to let her go. If he didn’t, then he could keep pretending they were a couple.

He kissed her on a Wednesday.

He just wanted to know what it felt like. He’s kissed his wife’s cool cheek for so long that he can’t recall the joy of a passionate kiss. He has dreamt of Louisa’s breathy murmur of enjoyment and the soft motion intimacy that comes with the touch of lips on another, for too long. 

Louisa’s happiness at the circus, her emotion at being called by her given name, and the discovery that he was needed, not just a useless ornament, was infectious. He hadn’t forgotten his marriage, but knew that he had to steal one kiss. To cross a line and hope never to go back, to do what was right.

He sat down to write a letter to his wife that morning, to explain his deep regret but wishing to set her free. As if summoning the spirits, so she appeared and made him trade Louisa for his children. 

He tried to forget her on a Thursday.

He returned to the family home and lasted barely two weeks before he found an excuse to go to the villa. He had word that his wife had met someone else in Athens, or rather his son said words he shouldn’t at his age. Spiro saw no reason to keep his promise anymore. It was breaking his heart. 

He found her on a Friday.

He returned to the villa on a Friday after a night on the beach where he spent the night cursing male pride and wondering how he could repair his faults. He realised when he saw her face, that he had once again underestimated this woman he loved. A lesson he learned again in the sad days that followed.

Several years later, he found her house in Bournemouth on a Friday too. Or at least he thinks it was a Friday. He couldn't really say after a heady reunion and a complicated journey. He stood on the path in the November rain, holding her as she cried into the wool of his army uniform. 

He married her on a Saturday.

It seemed unfair to waste the change in marriage laws. As they woke the following morning in the peace of a seaside hotel - in a bed, not too big - his heart sang as she expressed her wish to go back to Corfu. 

On the island they call home, they had a decidedly unorthodox celebration in the garden of the crumbling villa. After dancing her around the terrace, showed around the log cabin he has built, he drove her to the beach and found they found heaven again under the stars.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On fireworks and private matters

He saw his friend change on the Sunday

Theo saw Spiro sitting sadly by the taxi, unaware that his wife was dancing in Corfu Town. He mentioned that there was migration of a new family from England. He’d seen the little dog first, heard them call it Roger which made him smile. 

He hated to see someone so loyal as the taxi driver looking lost. He too had known brevity in love, in nature and with people. Perhaps this family may need his help and provide a distraction.

He realised his actions on a Monday

Theo asked of his friend, why did he look after them so much, why her. Why nobody else? When the answer came from Spiro, before the haze of ouzo fogged their brains, the answer seemed so clear yet unspoken. Love. Theo realised that his introduction had created a maelstrom that could only end in chaos. 

He stayed away on a Tuesday

The cricket match had been madness. Fun until it dawned on Theo that for Hugh and Spiro, it was serious. 

Within the week he had heard that Hugh had been stabbed and was heading back to England. He lingered over Mrs Durrell’s observation that she wanted to be like Spiro and thought how much more simple it was to be single.

He took action on a Wednesday

Theo sat with Dr. Alex and Florence, keeping a firm eye on Gerry and his animals from the audience. As he did this, he realised how he enjoyed keeping a god-fatherly eye on the Durrell children and this thought endured as he tried to dismiss the intolerance of Margo’s stay. He pondered the concept that Spiro was really the father figure, a trusted source of advice but not so fatherly that the two elder sons wouldn’t wish to share a drink with him or jest at his gentle affection for their mother. Though Theo is sure Larry suspects that their friend’s affections are deeper.

Across the audience, Theo saw Spiro enraptured by Mrs Durrell and quickly jumped to his feet and lit the firework fuse. 

Worse than a broken heart is being the source of village gossip. He’s fairly sure that whatever they desire to do, will happen in private.

He tried to fix it on a Thursday

Theo offered the parcel to Spiro, the one that arrived for Gerry at his address. Making up an excuse about checking on make believe beetles (and despairing that Spiro didn’t know that they were fictitious), Theo encouraged his friend to take the parcel to the villa. 

He didn’t mention that he heard Spiro arguing with his wife every night since she returned from Athens.

He broke hearts on a Friday

The last conversation he wanted was about the bloody war. They had all experienced the first one and Theo could hardly blame Mrs Durrell for wishing it gone through thought alone but he had to speak to her. He knew that Spiro knew. In the heady weeks of his stay at the villa, after the confession he had found love with her, his friend had read the papers with grave concern. They knew the King’s visit was procrastinating the invasion. Plans had to be made.

He made plans as the Germany army failed. Gathering up his new wife and baby, he collected Spiro and they pushed through war-torn Europe to arrive in a grey and broken England. Quietly Theo left Spiro and Louisa to their reunion and took Gerry to tea to meet his family. 

He spoke on a Saturday

Not in Corfu, he’ll go back one day but as Spiro’s proud best man at town hall. Theo told them all about his years and weeks of knowing these two wonderful people but you’ll never get him to confess to lighting the firework fuse. Spiro might explode. 

The End!


End file.
